Posters of Baby Hope. The bottom right shows where her dead body was found.
Author of NY Times Article: Michael Schwirtz
After 22 years, Baby Hope has finally been identify and the killer is reveal. Baby Hope was a young girl, who was born in Queens, named Anjelica Castillo. She was found dead in a cooler at the age of 4. Her body was found on July 23, 1991 by some construction workers and people named her “Baby Hope” to represent that they will find the killer and restore her name. The killer, Conrado Juarez, was her cousin who is now 52. In the past, he sexually abused the girl and in the end, killed her. With the help of his sister, they placed the dead body in a picnic cooler near Henry Hudson Parkway.
For the past few years, police officers went around asking people for help by passing fliers and talking to people. Then there was hope when a woman came forward to talk. She told the officers about a time when her sister was killed and that case was similar to Baby Hope’s cases. Soon or later, the detectives organized the information of Anjeclica’s family. They found out that Anjeclica’s father, an immigrant from Mexico, took care of Anjeclica and her sister after the family split. During the time, Anjeclica also lived to Balvina Juarez Ramirez, who was the sister of the killer. On the day Anjeclica died, Juarez sexually harassed her and killed her. He confessed that it was his sister’s idea to hide the body. Officials went to Juarez’s home and his daughter said that he was in Mexico for the past 12 years, but she lied and they found him working in Manhattan.
I am glad that justice was served in the end. The name, Baby Hope, fitted perfectly with Anjeclica because in the end, they found the killer, even after 22 years. I found it how messed up her uncle was because she was so young and was sexually harassed. I thought family was suppose to have your back, but unfortunately for Anjeclica’s cases, they weren’t. This case made me realized how amazing our community is and how the police force are stubborn, in a good way, because they never gave up the case.
